Income tax increase

Illinois tax hikes have passed.

Something had to give, higher taxes or some serious cuts in spending. Since no one in Illinois politics seems to have the ability to reduce spending of any kind then the tax hikes seemed inevitable. The real issue here is that Quinn was elected based on his claims of a tax hike, but nothing with this magnitude was ever discussed on the election trail for one reason, he would not have been elected.

The slanted view of Progress Illinois states what should be obvious to everyone. Read the whole article here.

"To get this through, the Democratic leadership needs the support of lame-duck lawmakers from both parties who can take a tough vote without considering electoral repercussions." –Progress Illinois

Voters should go ahead and interpret that as everyone who did not get re-elected in November and was unable take a stand and demand something be done for any number of years leading up to this point should act now since they don’t have to face any voter in upcoming elections. (ie. men are weak)

With Republicans gaining seats in both the house and senate this was the last ditch effort Quinn had. I am sure the partisan politics will go one for the rest of the year.

I think the Republicans have two options. Cut Spending and get the state where it needs to be, take some notes from what’s happening in New Jersey and put that lesson to action. Will it make some people mad, sure, but a great number of people in your electorate will take notice and with the extra revenue coming in we can pay down the debt and get out of this very very dark hole.

The second option which is more haphazard and disastrous is to bust the budget & spend like crazy.

"In addition, the measure would attempt to limit spending in each of the next four budget years — $36.8 billion in the 2012 budget year, $37.5 billion in 2013, $38.3 billion in 2014 and $39 billion in 2015. The state’s auditor general would determine if lawmakers and the governor exceed those spending limits. If the limits are exceeded, the higher income tax rates would revert to current levels." – Chicago Tribune

The whole article from The Tribune can be read here.

If the state breaks its budget in 2012 the higher tax rates would revert back to the previous levels and we would be back to the same problem again, only worse. I don’t think it will be a goal of the Republicans to accomplish this feat of budget busting but I also don’t think the state can throttle the budget to 2% increases, they have not proven themselves capable of reducing or regulating spending up to this point, why should that change now.

In addition to all of this what should have been the none issue decision of the whole package, the cigarette tax hike, did not pass. That’s easy for me to say since I don’t smoke but its common knowledge that smoking is bad. If it’s more expensive then maybe less people would and thus many people would have a higher quality of life and more money to spend on things they need.

I think Columbia is due over a half million dollars. Once the state gets their bond we'll get our check. I'll believe that when I see it.